In American history, one
Congressman was re-elected from jail

Nature has left this tincture in the blood, 

that all men would be tyrants if they could;    

if they forbear their neighbors to devour, 

tis not for want of will,

 but want of power.-  

-De-Foe. Jure Divino.

"Bustle in the House of wisdom:" The Life and Crimes of Vermont Congressman Matthew Lyon

Have enough money? All that power to your head? 

You've got no idea what your up against.

It must be cold in your ivory tower, where no-one ever told the truth,

far below in the rising water, no-one gives a damn for you.

Attack the immigrants, cause they don't look like us?

They don't know my God? What have we become?

It must be cold in your ivory tower, where no-one ever told the truth,

far below in the rising water, no-one gives a damn for you.

So lets get one thing straight, what makes our country great is our diversity

I hope you learn to see

It must be cold in your ivory tower, where no-one ever told the truth,

far below in the rising water, no-one gives a damn for you.

Perhaps the Gentlemen can explain ? Perhaps the Gentlemen can explain ? 

Not a Jury of his peers, men of enmity to Lyon, 

you marched us forty miles from our home.  

A judge appointed by Adams, wished he'd had a harsher sentence,

 just bars for windows on the coldest of the year. 

Perhaps the gentlemen can explain? Perhaps the Gentlemen can explain? 

A sitting congressman in shackles marched through the town square!  

have you not heard of checks and balances sir? 

This letter post marked 7th of July and yet not published till the 20th? why? Perhaps the Gentlemen can explain?Perhaps the Gentlemen can explain? 

Who will be your next offender? your agenda is dangerous, 

you won't break our spirit!  who will be your next offender? 

Today Irish, tomorrow French, who's to say you won't be next? 

The Gentlemen shall explain? Perhaps the Gentlemen can explain? 

And you grabbed by the Lyon, like some tiger by the tail! 

you treat him like an enemy of the state. far be it for a woman to play upon your sympathies  I'd hoped you'd have your own good sense of dignity  

The gentlemen can explain? Perhaps the Gentlemen can explain ? 

Who will be your next offender? your agenda is obvious, 

you won't break our spirit! Who will be your next offender? 

Today Irish, tomorrow French, who's to say you won't be next?

 The gentlemen shall explain? Perhaps the Gentlemen can explain ? 

And we have a constitution, it would help if you would use it! 

play another round of cricket?  Perhaps the gentlemen can explain? 

Perhaps the Gentlemen can explain? and if the gentlemen can't explain 

perhaps the gentlemen are to blame.

16 States majority stake. Jefferson or Burr?

16 States majority stake, this might not work...

Electoral College with no return so it falls on congress's shoulders 

Adams wasn't even close. So they chose

16 States majority stake, Jefferson or Burr?

16 States majority stake, this might not work

Congress knew all too well, Burr was on the VP ballot

Choosing party over state, Vote after vote tied 8 to 8

16 States majority stake. Jefferson or Burr?

16 States majority stake, this might not work

The country is so young. The power struggle we’ll come undone.

In more danger by the hour, can we peacefully transfer power? No one knows.

Mr. Morris, If you leave your ballot blank, I'll leave Vermont

There's no home for me anyway for all the Adams Magistrate

Mr. Morris, have we reached an accord? 

Let your handshake be your word

16 States majority stake, Jefferson or Burr. 

16 States majority stake! Jefferson! 

We have a new President! We have a new President! 

We have a new President!

Jefferson.

Born in county Wicklow, Ireland 1750, Matthew Lyon emigrated to the New World a teenage orphan and was sold into indentured servitude in CT. After working and bartering for his freedom, Lyon moved to the ‘Hampshire Grants' with Ethan Allen & Mary Hosford.  ​​Enlisting as a Private, he served in all the major local Revolutionary War battles including Ticonderoga, Montgomery’s army and Saratoga. Through the course of his honorable service he was promoted to Adjunct Paymaster to General Seth Warner.

Founder of Fairhaven Vermont, publisher of the Scourge of Aristocracy, Congressman Matthew Lyon was imprisoned for violating the Alien Sedition act; which had given the President unconstitutional authority to expel or refuse immigrants and imprison those who published against the administration. Lyon won re-election, by a 2 to 1 margin, while serving a four month jail sentence in Vergennes Vermont. 

Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Mason, Apollo Austin,  the Green Mountain Boys, and the citizens in town ALL tried to pay his $1060.96 bail but Lyon and his 2nd wife Beulah refused the money.

 The ‘Lyon of Vermont’ effectively ended the Federalist Party when casting the tie-breaking vote for President Jefferson during the election of 1800, which had gone to the Congress after the electoral college failed.